U.S. patent number 10,303,330 [Application Number 15/180,517] was granted by the patent office on 2019-05-28 for enabling delayed interactions with content items presented by a social networking system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Facebook, Inc.. The grantee listed for this patent is Facebook, Inc.. Invention is credited to Matthew Brown, Loren Alfred Cheng, Jessica Gronski, Marc Horowitz, William Jacobs, Jane Leibrock, Zhengzheng Pan, Xiao Ou Wang, Joshua Van Dyke Watzman, Rachel Margaret Wong, Luke Woods.
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United States Patent |
10,303,330 |
Leibrock , et al. |
May 28, 2019 |
Enabling delayed interactions with content items presented by a
social networking system
Abstract
When a user sees a content item presented by a social networking
system, the user may select an option to save the content item. The
saved content item may be reinserted in a newsfeed presented to the
user, integrated into collections, archived, used for notifications
to the user, or otherwise subsequently presented to the user. A
plug-in may be used to save content items accessed through websites
external to the social networking system. As privacy settings
associated with a saved content item are modified, the modified
privacy settings are applied to the saved content item, which may
prevent the user saving the content item from subsequently viewing
the saved content item.
Inventors: |
Leibrock; Jane (San Francisco,
CA), Cheng; Loren Alfred (Mountain View, CA), Brown;
Matthew (San Francisco, CA), Gronski; Jessica (San
Francisco, CA), Horowitz; Marc (San Francisco, CA),
Jacobs; William (Mountain View, CA), Pan; Zhengzheng
(Fremont, CA), Wang; Xiao Ou (San Francisco, CA),
Watzman; Joshua Van Dyke (Mountain View, CA), Woods;
Luke (San Francisco, CA), Wong; Rachel Margaret (San
Francisco, CA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Facebook, Inc. |
Menlo Park |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Facebook, Inc. (Menlo Park,
CA)
|
Family
ID: |
51208768 |
Appl.
No.: |
15/180,517 |
Filed: |
June 13, 2016 |
Prior Publication Data
|
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|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20160283067 A1 |
Sep 29, 2016 |
|
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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13747714 |
Jan 23, 2013 |
9396502 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
3/0482 (20130101); G06Q 50/01 (20130101); H04L
67/02 (20130101); G06F 3/0484 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
17/00 (20190101); G06F 3/048 (20130101); G06F
7/00 (20060101); G06F 3/0482 (20130101); G06Q
50/00 (20120101); G06F 3/0484 (20130101); H04L
29/08 (20060101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
United States Office Action, U.S. Appl. No. 13/747,714, dated May
20, 2015, twenty-three pages. cited by applicant .
United States Office Action, U.S. Appl. No. 13/747,714, dated Nov.
6, 2014, twenty-three pages. cited by applicant.
|
Primary Examiner: Molina; Hugo
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fenwick & West LLP
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/747,714,
filed Jan. 23, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in
its entirety.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A computer-implemented method comprising: sending, one or more
content items, each associated with a time, for presentation to a
user of a social networking system in a newsfeed comprising a
chronological list of the content items based on the times
associated with the content items; receiving, by a processor, a
selection of a content item from the one or more content items
presented in the newsfeed of the social networking system; saving,
by the processor, the selected content item and a description of a
saved state of the content item in response to the received
selection of the content item; retrieving, by the processor,
information associated with the user of the social networking
system; automatically determining, by the processor, that the
retrieved information associated with the user of the social
networking system satisfies one or more criteria for presenting the
content item at an additional time after the content item is saved;
responsive to the retrieved information associated with the user of
the social networking system satisfying one or more criteria for
presenting the content item at the additional time: determining, by
the processor, modifications between the description of the saved
state of the content item and a description of a current state of
the content item being available for presentation to other users in
the newsfeeds of the social networking system; sending, by the
processor, the content item and the determined modifications for
presentation to the user in the newsfeed of the social networking
system; and presenting the content item having the description of
the saved state of the content item and the determined
modifications, the determined modifications visually distinguished
from the description of the saved state of the content item in the
presentation, the presentation of the content item subject to one
or more privacy settings associated with the content item by an
additional user, wherein the one or more privacy settings are
determined when the content item is to be presented in a newsfeed
of the social networking system at the additional time.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting
the content item at the additional time comprises: receiving one or
more user interactions with at least one of the social networking
system and an external website, the user interactions comprising at
least one of a group including comments of posts, sharing links and
checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device; and
presenting the content item in the newsfeed based in part on the
received one or more user interactions.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting
the content item at the additional time comprises: transmitting a
notification including the content item to the user.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
retrieved information associated with the user of the social
networking system satisfying one or more criteria comprises:
determining a current time is greater than a threshold time from a
time when the content item was saved.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
retrieved information associated with the user of the social
networking system satisfying one or more criteria includes one or
more actions associated with the user.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
retrieved information associated with the user of the social
networking system satisfying one or more criteria comprises:
determining at least a threshold number of saved content items are
associated with the user.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
retrieved information associated with the user of the social
networking system satisfying one or more criteria comprises:
determining a time to present the user with the saved content item
based on one or more user actions.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the
retrieved information associated with the user of the social
networking system satisfying one or more criteria comprises:
determining a type of interaction with the content item was
received from another user connected to the user.
9. A computer-implemented method comprising: sending one or more
content items for presentation to a user of a social networking
system in a newsfeed comprising a list of the content items;
receiving, by a processor, a selection of a content item from the
one or more content items presented in the newsfeed of the social
networking system; saving, by the processor, the content item and a
description of a state of the content item in response to the
received selection of the content item; retrieving, by the
processor, location information associated with the user of the
social networking system; determining a time to present the user
with the content item for an additional time based on one or more
user actions; responsive to determining the retrieved location
information associated with the user of the social networking
system is within a threshold distance of a location associated with
the content item for presenting the content item at the additional
time: determining, by the processor, modifications between the
description of the saved state of the content item and a
description of a current state of the content item being available
for presentation to other users in the newsfeeds of the social
networking system; sending, by the processor, the content item and
the determined modifications for presentation to the user in the
newsfeed of the social networking system; and presenting the
content item having the description of the saved state of the
content item and the determined modifications, the determined
modifications visually distinguished from the description of the
saved state of the content item in the presentation, the
presentation of the content item subject to one or more privacy
settings associated with the content item by an additional user,
wherein the one or more privacy settings are determined when the
content item is to be presented in a newsfeed of the social
networking system at the additional time.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein presenting
the content item at the additional time comprises: receiving one or
more user interactions with at least one of the social networking
system and an external website, receiving one or more user
interactions with at least one of the social networking system and
an external website, the user interactions comprising at least one
of a group including comments of posts, sharing links and
checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device; and
presenting the content item in the newsfeed based in part on the
received user interaction.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein presenting
the content item at the additional time comprises: transmitting a
notification including the content item to the user.
Description
BACKGROUND
This invention relates generally to interacting with content via a
social networking system, and more particularly, to encouraging
users to interact with previously presented content stored by a
social networking system user.
Social networking systems present large amounts of content to their
users. Examples of content presented by a social networking system
include status updates, descriptions of actions performed by social
networking system users, audio and video posts, new associations,
advertisements, offers, activities, and other types of content. As
social networking systems have an increasing number of users, there
is an increasing amount of content for presentation to social
networking system users, making it difficult for a user to review
or interact with the amount of content presented by the social
networking system. For example, when a user sees interesting
content, the user be unable interact with the content when it is
initially viewed (e.g., viewing a link at work to a video that the
user wants to view at home) or may desire to view future updates to
presented content item.
However, social networking systems frequently present content to
users as a chronologically organized newsfeed. Typically, a social
networking system presents a user with the most recent content item
at the top of a page including the newsfeed and presents older
content item at lower locations of the page. Thus, to interact with
content previously presented by the social networking system, a
user typically navigates through newly-presented content. As an
increasing amount of new content is received, it becomes more
difficult to navigate through the new content to identify a desired
previously-presented content item, making it difficult for users to
subsequently interact with previously-presented content.
SUMMARY
Users of social networking system may save a content item presented
by the social networking system, allowing the users to more easily
retrieve the content item from the social networking system. When
the social networking system prevents a content item to a user, an
input option is presented, and accessing the input option allows
the user to save the content item to the social networking for
subsequent interaction. The social networking system presents a
saved content item to the user at a later time, allowing the user
to more easily retrieve and interact with the saved content item
after its initial presentation. Saved content items may be
presented to the user via any suitable channels. Examples of
channels for presenting a saved content item include sending a
notification of the saved content item to the user, including the
saved content item into a newsfeed at a later time, maintaining a
page of the social networking system including saved content items,
or any other suitable communication channel.
A content item saved by a user may be presented to the user based
on information about the user or about the saved content item. For
example, if the social networking system receives location
information associated with the user that is within a threshold
distance of a location associated with the saved content item, the
social networking system includes the saved content item in the
user's newsfeed at a more recent time or otherwise presents the
saved content item to the user. As another example, the user is
presented with a saved content item based on the amount of time
between a current time and the user's most recent interaction with
the social networking system or based on an expected amount of
interaction between the user and the social networking system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment including a
social networking system, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an example interface for saving content items presented
by a social networking system, according to one embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a flow chart for a method of providing saved content
items, according to one embodiment.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for
purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily
recognize from the following discussion that alternative
embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be
employed without departing from the principles of the invention
described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
System Architecture
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system environment
including a social networking system 100. The system environment
shown by FIG. 1 includes one or more user devices 140, one or more
external websites 130, a network 120, and the social networking
system 120. In other embodiments, the system environment includes
different and/or additional components than those shown by FIG.
1.
The social networking system 100 receives content items from users
and allows users to establish connections to other users. Content
items received from users are presented to other users via the
social networking system 100, such as users connected to a user
from which the content item was received. The social networking
system 100 exchanges data with one or more user devices 140 and one
or more user devices 140 through the network 120. FIG. 1 shows one
embodiment of a social networking system 100 including a web server
102, a content store 104, an action logger 106, an action log 108,
a content saving module 110, and a user profile store 112. However,
in other embodiments the social networking system 100 may include
different and/or additional components than those shown in FIG.
1.
The web server 102 exchanges data between the social networking
system 100 and one or more user devices 104 and/or one or more
external websites 130. For example, the web server 102 receives
requests from the user devices 140 and provides interfaces and
content items to the user devices 140. Content items provided by
the web server 102 may be selected by the social networking system
100 based on information associated with a user requesting the
content items by the social networking system 100. This increases
the likelihood of the user interacting with the provided content
items. In one embodiment, the web server 102 provides a newsfeed to
the user device 140 requesting the content items. The newsfeed
presents the content items or stories describing the content items
in a chronological order.
In one embodiment, the newsfeed provided to the user device 140
includes one or more inputs allowing a user to save one or more of
the presented content items via the social networking system 100.
For example, an input is included in each story including a content
item, allowing the user to access the input to save the story or
the content item described by the story. As further described
below, when a user stores a presented item via the social
networking system 100, the social networking system 100
subsequently retrieves the saved content item for presentation to
the user at a later time.
The web server 102 may also exchange data with one or more external
websites 130. For example, a social plug-in included on pages
provided by an external website 130 exchanges data with the web
server 102, allowing the external website 130 to include
information from the social networking system 100 along with the
content from the external website 130 on the pages. Hence, a
social-plug in presented on a page from an external website 130 may
allow a user to save the page to the social networking system 100
as if the user were saving content presented via the social
networking system 100.
The content store 104 stores objects representing various types of
content items for presentation by the social networking system 100.
Examples of content items represented by objects include a page
post, a status update, a photo, a video, a link, a shared content
item, a gaming application achievement, a check-in event at a local
business, a brand page, or any other type of content. Objects may
be created by users of the social networking system 100, such as
status updates, photos, events, groups or applications; users may
restrict or grant access to content items. In some embodiments,
content items stored as objects are received from third-party
applications, which may be separate from the social networking
system 100. As used herein, a "content item" represents a single
piece of content presented to social networking system users.
Presenting content items to users increases user interaction with
the social networking system 106 by encouraging users to post
content items for presentation, increasing the interaction of users
with each other and increasing the frequency with which users
interact within the social networking system 100.
The action logger 106 receives communications about user actions on
and/or off the social networking system 100 and populates the
action log 108 with information describing these actions. Examples
of actions include adding a connection to another user, sending a
message to another user, uploading an image, reading a message from
another user, viewing content associated with another user,
attending an event posted by another user, among others. The social
networking system 100 uses the action logger 106 and the action log
108 to track user actions on the social networking system 100, as
well as on external websites that communicate information to the
social networking system 100.
Users may interact with various objects on the social networking
system 100, including commenting on posts, sharing links, and
checking-in to physical locations via a mobile device, accessing
content items or other interactions. Information describing these
actions is captured by the action logger 106 and stored in the
action log 108. Additional examples of interactions with objects on
the social networking system 100 included in the action log 108
include commenting on a photo album, communications between users,
becoming a fan of a musician, adding an event to a calendar,
joining a group, becoming a fan of a brand page, creating an event,
authorizing an application, using an application and engaging in a
transaction. Additionally, the action log 108 records a user's
interactions with advertisements on the social networking system
100 as well as other applications operating on the social
networking system 100. In some embodiments, data from the action
log 108 is used to infer interests or preferences of the user,
augmenting the interests included in a user profile associated with
the user and allowing a more complete understanding of user
preferences.
The action log 108 may also store user actions taken on external
websites. For example, an e-commerce website that primarily sells
sporting equipment at bargain prices may recognize a user of a
social networking system 100 through social plug-ins that enable
the e-commerce website to identify the user of the social
networking system 100. Because users of the social networking
system 100 are uniquely identifiable, external websites 130, such
as this sporting equipment retailer, may use the information about
social networking system users accessing content from an external
website 130. The action log 108 records data about these users,
including webpage viewing histories, advertisements that were
engaged, purchases made, and other patterns from shopping and
buying.
Each user of the social networking system 100 is associated with a
user profile, which is stored in the user profile store 112. A user
profile includes declarative information about the user that was
explicitly provided by the user, and may also include information
inferred by the social networking system 100. In one embodiment, a
user profile includes multiple data fields, with each data field
describing one or more attributes of the corresponding user of the
social networking system 100. Examples of information stored in a
user profile includes biographic, demographic, and other types of
descriptive information, such as work experience, educational
history, gender, hobbies or preferences, location and the like. A
user profile may also store other information provided by the user,
for example, images or videos. In certain embodiments, images of
users may be tagged with identification information of users of the
social networking system 100 displayed in an image. A user profile
in the user profile store 112 may also maintain references to
actions by the corresponding user performed on content items in the
content store 104 and stored in the action log 108 and references
to connections to other users.
While user profiles in the user profile store 112 are frequently
associated with individuals, allowing people to interact with each
other via the social networking system 100, user profiles may also
be stored for entities such as businesses or organizations. This
allows an entity to establish a presence on the social networking
system 100 for connecting and exchanging content with other social
networking system users. The entity may post information about
itself, about its products or provide other information to users of
the social networking system 100 using a brand page associated with
the entity's user profile. Other users of the social networking
system 100 may connect to the brand page to receive information
posted to the brand page or to receive information from the brand
page. A user profile associated with the brand page may include
information about the entity itself, providing users with
background or informational data about the entity associated with
the brand page.
A user profile may also store a user profile list that defines a
list of other user profiles. The user profile list can be created
and updated by the user or automatically created and updated by the
social networking system 100. For example, a user creates and
updates a list of user profiles belonging to the user's close
friends, family members, or co-workers. In another example, the
social networking system 100 automatically creates and updates a
list of users that attended the same university as the user. A user
profile list may be used to identify content items associated with
users on the user profile list for presentation to the user, allows
the user to more easily interact with the users on the user profile
list.
The content saving module 110 receives a request from a user to
save a content item presented to the user by the social networking
system 100. When a request to save a content item is received, the
content saving module 110 includes data in the content store 104
indicating a user identifier of the user saving the content item.
The content saving module 110 also identifies and stores the state
of the content item when the request to save the content item was
received. For example, a content item having 3 comments when a
request to save it is received is saved in a state having 3
comments; hence, if additional comments are associated with the
content item after it is saved, the saved content idem does not
identify the additional comments. The additional comments may be
identified by the content saving module 110 to differentiate
between comments presented when the request to save the content
item was received and comments provided after the content item was
saved.
The content saving module 110 may store data describing the state
of a saved content item or may include a reference to data in the
content store 104 describing the saved content item and data
describing the state of the saved content item when the request to
save the content item was received. Based on information about the
user providing the request to save the content item, the content
saving module 110 retrieves and presents the saved content item to
the user providing the request to save the content item. After a
content item is saved, user interactions with the content item via
the social networking system 100 may affect the state of the saved
content item.
Saving a content item via the content saving module 110 allows a
user to more easily interact with the saved content item by
simplifying access to the saved content item. To encourage user
interaction with the saved content item, the content saving module
110 may again present the saved content item to the user based on
information associated with the user that saved the content item.
For example, based on the time of day, the length of time a user
interacts with the social networking system 100, location data
associated with the user, the number of items the user has saved,
or any other suitable information, the content saving module 110
may retrieve and present a saved content item to the user.
For example, the content saving module 110 retrieves a content item
saved by a user if the user interacts with the social networking
system 100 for at least a threshold amount of time, which may
indicate that the user has sufficient time to review the saved
content item as well as newly presented content items. In some
embodiments, a saved content item may be retrieved based on time of
day; for example, based on historical interactions with the social
networking system 100, a user may interact with the social
networking system 100 for a longer amount of time after a specified
time of day, so a saved content item is retrieved and presented to
the user after the specified time of day. In some embodiments, the
content saving module 110 uses a behavioral model to determine user
behavior and estimated length of the user's interactions with the
social networking system 100 based on past activity and log-in
times. If the behavioral model determines at least a threshold
likelihood that the user will interact with the social networking
system 100 for at least a threshold amount of time, a saved content
item is retrieved and presented by the content saving module 110.
Additionally, the length of time a saved content has been saved may
also be used when retrieving and presenting a saved content item to
the user that saved the content item.
Additionally, location information associated with a user may be
used to retrieve and present saved content items to the user. In
one embodiment, if the user is within a threshold distance of a
location associated with a content item saved by the user, the
saved content item is presented to the user. For example, a user
saves an advertisement or offer from a retailer and when location
information associated with the user is within a threshold distance
of a location associated with the retailer, the saved advertisement
is retrieved and presented to the user. A user device 140 may
communicate location information to the social networking system
100 that may be associated with a user using the user device 140,
subject to user privacy settings, and the content saving module 110
determines if the location information is within a threshold
distance of a location associated with the saved content item. For
example, a saved content item associated with a retailer is
presented to the user if the user check-ins to a store operated by
a retailer associated with a saved content item or another location
near a store operated by the retailer. This allows the content
saving module 110 provide a user with saved content pertinent to
the user's location.
Saved content items may also be retrieved and presented to a user
based on the user's interactions with external websites 130. For
example, a user saving an offer from online retailer may visit an
external website 130 associated with the online retailer that
operates a social-plug in exchanging information with the social
networking system 100. The social-plug in communicates information
identifying the user and the user's interaction with the external
website 130 to the social networking system 100, and the content
saving module 110 may identify saved content items associated with
the user and with the external website 130 based on the
information. A saved content item identified by the content saving
module 110 is communicated to the social plug-in operated by the
external website 130 for presentation to the user along with
content from the external website 130. In this example, the saved
offer is presented to the user via the social plug-in while viewing
content from the external website 130 to encourage the user to take
advantage of the offer while accessing the external website
130.
User interactions with a content item may cause presentation of a
saved content item to a user. After a user saves a content item,
the content item is presented to additional users that may interact
with the content item. These interactions may be identified by the
content saving module 110, causing retrieval and presentation of
the saved content item to the user. For example, if a specified
user comments on the content item, if a threshold number of users
comment on the content item, if a threshold number of users express
a preference for the saved content item ("like" the content item),
or any other suitable interaction is performed, the saved content
item is retrieved and presented to the user by the content saving
module 110. In one embodiment, the saved content item and a
description of the interactions with the content item after it was
saved are presented. Additionally, the number of content items
saved by a user may be used to identify saved content items for
presentation to the user; for example, if a threshold number of
content items are saved, one or more saved content items may be
selected for presentation to the user.
Saved content items may be subject to privacy settings specified by
a user owning or otherwise administering the content items. A user
may modify the privacy settings of a saved content item so that the
saved content item is no longer accessible to the user that saved
the saved content item. While the change in privacy settings
prevents the saving user from being presented with the saved
content item, the content saving module 110 may maintain an
indication that content item is saved by the user. Hence, if the
privacy settings of the saved content item modified are again
modified to allow access to the user saving the content item, the
saved content item may be presented to the user.
A saved content item may be presented to a user in a variety of
ways. For example, the saved content item is presented by a
notification to the user identifying the saved content item.
Alternatively, the saved content item is inserted into the user's
newsfeed at a more recent time, making it more accessible, or is
presented using any suitable distribution channel. One or more
saved content items may be accessible through a page dedicated to
presenting the saved content items. The page may chronologically
present content items saved by a user. In one embodiment, a user
may identify specific types (e.g., videos, photos, status messages,
etc.), so the page presents saved content items having the
identified types. Content items saved by a user may also be added
to categories, which may be accessed via the page.
As described above, other users may interact with a content item
after the content item was saved by the user. For example, other
users presented with the content item may comment on the content
item, express a preference for the content item, share the content
item with additional users, or perform any other interaction with
the content item. Hence, the content saving module 110 may present
a saved content item to a user based on the state of the saved
content item when it was saved or may present the saved content
item modified to include interactions between other users and the
content item after it was saved. In one embodiment, interactions
with the saved content after it was saved are visually
distinguished from the state of the saved content item when it was
saved.
The user devices 140 comprise one or more computing devices capable
of receiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving
data via the network 120. In one embodiment, the user device 140 is
a conventional computer system, such as a desktop or laptop
computer. Alternatively, a user device 140 may be a device having
computer functionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA),
mobile telephone, smart-phone, or similar device. The user device
140 is configured to communicate via the network 120. In one
embodiment, a user device 140 executes an application allowing a
user of the user device 140 to interact with the social networking
system 100. For example, a user device 140 executes a browser
application to exchange information between the user device 140 and
the social networking system 100 via the network 120. In another
embodiment, a user device 140 interacts with the social networking
system 100 through an application programming interface (API) that
runs on the native operating system of the user device 140, such as
IOS.RTM. or ANDROID.TM..
Information is communicated between the user devices 140, the
social networking system 100 and/or the one or more external
website 130 via the network 120, which may comprise any combination
of local area and/or wide area networks, using both wired and
wireless communication systems. In one embodiment, the network 120
uses standard communications technologies and/or protocols. Thus,
the network 120 may include communication links using technologies
such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave
access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, CDMA, digital subscriber line (DSL), etc.
Similarly, the networking protocols used on the network 120 may
include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission control
protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP),
hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol
(SMTP) and file transfer protocol (FTP). Data exchanged over the
network 120 may be represented using technologies and/or formats
including hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensible markup
language (XML). In addition, all or some of the communication links
may be encrypted using conventional encryption technologies such as
secure sockets layer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), and
Internet Protocol security (IPsec).
User Interface
FIG. 2 illustrates an example interface for social networking
system users interacting with saved content items. The interface
shown by FIG. 2 includes a selection region 200 and social content
210. The selection region 200 allows a user to retrieve various
content items maintained by the social networking system 100. For
example, the selection region 200 identifies different types of
content items, and selecting a portion of the selection region 200
presents content having the type corresponding to the selected
portion is presented in the social content 210. The selection
region 200 includes an option for accessing saved content,
identified as a saved for later option 202 in FIG. 2. If the saved
for later option 202 is selected, the content saving module 110
retrieves content items saved by the user.
The social content 210 retrieved from the content store 104 and
communicated to a user device 140, along with instructions for
generating the interface, by the web server 102. Various inputs for
receiving input from a user to interact with the social content 210
are included in the interface. For example, inputs allow a user to
comment on a content item shown in the social content 210, express
a preference for a content item shown in the social content 210, or
otherwise interact with content items shown in the social content
210. A save input 212A allows a user to select a content item to be
saved by the content saving module 110. In one embodiment, an
indication 212B that a content item has previously been saved is
presented in place of the save input 212A. In some embodiments, the
save input 212A includes additional information 212C. For example,
the additional information 212C may identify the conditions used to
determine when to present the saved content item to the user. As
another example, the additional information 212C may identify the
number of times the content item has been saved by other users or
has been saved by other users connected to the user viewing the
social content 212.
Presentation of Content Items Saved by a Social Networking System
User
FIG. 3 is a flow chart for a method providing saved content items,
according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, the method
illustrated in FIG. 3 is performed through content saving module
110, although in other embodiments, the method may be performed by
any component or combination of components of the social networking
system 100. One or more content items are presented 300 to the user
by the social networking system 100. The user identifies a content
item to save and communicates an identification of the content item
to the social networking system 110, which saves 310 the identified
content item. In one embodiment, the state of the content item is
saved 310, allowing identification of changes to the content item
after it was saved 310.
Subsequently, the content saving module 110 retrieves information
320 about the user that saved the content item. Based on the
retrieved information, the content saving module 110 presents 330
the saved content item to the user at a time after it was saved. As
described above in conjunction with FIG. 1, various types of
information associated with the user may be retrieved and used to
determine when to present 330 the saved content item to the user.
For example, the retrieved information is an action from the user
requesting to view a page including saved content items. As another
example, the retrieved information is location information
associated with the user, which is compared to location information
associated with the saved content item, as described above in
conjunction with FIG. 1. The saved content item may be presented
330 to the user in a variety of ways. For example, the saved
content item may be inserted into a newsfeed presented to the user
in a location associated with a more recent time or may be
presented 330 using a notification sent to the user.
SUMMARY
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has
been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended
to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms
disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that
many modifications and variations are possible in light of the
above disclosure.
Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the
invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of
operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and
representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data
processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively
to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described
functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be
implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,
microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient
at times, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules,
without loss of generality. The described operations and their
associated modules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware,
or any combinations thereof.
Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be
performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software
modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one
embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer
program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing
computer program code, which can be executed by a computer
processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or
processes described.
Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus for
performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially
constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise a
general-purpose computing device selectively activated or
reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a
computer program may be stored in a non-transitory, tangible
computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for
storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer
system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the
specification may include a single processor or may be
architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased
computing capability.
Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that is
produced by a computing process described herein. Such a product
may comprise information resulting from a computing process, where
the information is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer
readable storage medium and may include any embodiment of a
computer program product or other data combination described
herein.
Finally, the language used in the specification has been
principally selected for readability and instructional purposes,
and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the
inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope
of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but
rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon.
Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is
intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the
invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
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